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Soquel struck hard and often but not often enough as the visiting Scotts Valley High School Falcons overcame a 26-15 third quarter deficit to take home a win in their first Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League in a 30-26 defeat of the Knights.
Soquel’s Fabiano Hale, a junior slot running back, opened the scoring with a 61-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Luca Cardoza with 4:24 left in the first quarter.
Scotts Valley (1-0 SCCAL, 4-1 overall) answered quickly as senior running back Victor Pasanisi broke through the defense and took the ensuing kickoff 72 yards for a touchdown. Sophomore Joe Gillette caught the two-point conversion from Falcon quarterback Jack Pasquini that put Scotts Valley up 8-7 at the end of the first quarter. Kicker Noah Beito was sidelined with a hip issue so Jack Lavery took over kicking duties for the Falcons.
Collin Corbella opened the scoring in the second quarter with a one yard plunge that put the Falcons up 15-7.
But the Knights struck back as Hale erupted for three consecutive touchdowns – touchdown runs of 24 yards and 85 yards to finish the first half.
The third touchdown came at the beginning of the third quarter from one yard out. Hale would finish the evening with four touchdowns and 258 total yards, while scoring all but two of the Knights 26 points on the day.
“Things didn’t always go our way and that’s alright,” said Falcons Head Coach Louie Walters. “Coming back from adversity is a sign of a good football team.”
In the second half the teams appeared to have traded playbooks, as the usually pass-happy Falcons stuck to the ground game and the Knights reverted to an air attack and seemed to abandon their “scrum” run game. The switch seemed to be the Soquel’s downfall as they looked a bit flustered in their run and shoot offense against the Falcons defensive backfield.
“We really kept them in this football game,” Falcon Defensive Coordinator Jeff Metter said. “Missed tackles and blown opportunities kept putting (Soquel) right back in this thing.”
All the while, Scotts Valley’s running back Corbella ate up turf for what seemed to be a consistent five yards a pop that ate up the clock and the ground. Corbella chiseled away at the Soquel defense finishing with 199 yards on 40 carries and scored three touchdowns.
“We used our O-line and really got into their heads,” Pasquini said. “Our line just ate away at them and gave our backs the opportunities they needed.”
After Corbella’s 5-yard dive for a late third quarter score, Scotts Valley drilled a squib kick into a Knight player and Falcon junior Emmanuel Johnson recovered the kick. Corbella again capitalized with a 2-yard score that put Scotts Valley on top 30-26.
Scotts Valley will host Aptos (4-1) at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8. The Mariners are coming off a 42-7 win over Saint Francis of Watsonville. The Falcons and Mariners tied last season for a share of second place in league.
Multi-threat quarterback Riggs Powell has scored eight rushing touchdowns and thrown for six more to lead a high-scoring Mariner attack that averages 40 points per game.
